‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ was the first substantial poem by W. H. Auden upon his move to New York City. Auden wrote the poem – a three-section elegy – in February 1939, shortly after Yeats’s death. It first appeared in his 1940 collection Another Time, which also included 'Refugee Blues' and 'Musée des Beaux-Arts.' The poem looks to resolve imbalances between a gifted writer’s death and the momentous political events overshadowing it.
Man and Beast
Auden, a master of poetic form, uses three distinct styles in his tribute to Yeats. The first part is in free verse, lasting for 31 lines. Building on the pastoral tradition of elegies that can be traced to ancient Greece, this section combines elements of nature with man-made phenomena such as airports, statues, and the Parisian stock exchange. Auden breaks through the romantic image of a poet lamented by nature and Man; they are actually indifferent, save for his tiny reading public, and normal life carries on: ‘A few thousand will think of this day / As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual.’
Tough but Real
The second part contains only ten lines, this time addressing Yeats directly in an almost Whitmanesque manner. Auden defies the elegy stereotype yet again by pointing out his honoree's faults: ‘You were silly like us; your gift survived it all,’ he comments. This irony-rich stanza also explains that Yeats's native Ireland ‘has her madness and her weather still, / For poetry makes nothing happen.’ While unflattering at first sight, these comments remind us that Yeats was human, not angelic or contrived from thin air. Auden strongly denies the poetry of Yeats as influential in everyday life, but affirms that his work ‘survives’ and remains ‘a way of happening, a mouth’ to those who respect him.
The Libation Bearer
After two sections that describe Yeats's limited role in society, the concluding part is arranged in quatrains and takes on the mood of a Greek libation or invocation by such poetic greats as John Milton and Alfred Tennyson. It was originally nine stanzas long, but eventually reduced to six when Auden decided against mentioning Rudyard Kipling or Paul Claudel, who were politically conservative.
The opening stanza addresses Earth and asks her to ‘receive an honored guest.’ The section carries great stubbornness, juxtaposing the poetic accomplishment of Yeats with the darkening political situation in Europe. After pointing out that ‘In the nightmare of the dark / All the dogs of Europe bark,’ Auden finds comfort in the poet’s ability to help Man through destructive times - if only he would listen: ‘With your unconstraining voice / Still persuade us to rejoice.’
The poem ends with arguably the greatest short treatise on poetry in English: ‘In the prison of his days / Teach the free man how to praise.’ In a matter of 65 lines, Auden has found a place for verse-writers in a society that was growing worse by the hour. It is a resolution that only a poet of his stature could bring off so convincingly.
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